November 13, 2008 - January 27, 2009 - Ellensburg, WA to Austin, TX

November 13, 2008 - December 18, 2008
Mazatlan - Not much happening, cruising-wise. I continue to do projects around the boat like re-doing the Bimini and having a new dodger installed, installing the boom vang (a rigid boom vang is steel tube that supports the mast and eliminates the need for a topping lift.), installing the whisker pole pad eye, cleaning and waxing topside and varnishing the cabin sole, scrubbing the boat's bottom and cleaning the dinghy; it’s always something on a boat. Julie has been up in Ellensburg, WA working for a stint and while she was making good money she has broken her ankle (taking care of her boss's dogs). I went up for Thanksgiving and will go up again at Christmas. When we return we’ll provision the boat, do some last minute checks, and start heading south for the Panama Canal.

We did buy a bread maker for making bread while in port. I’m having a little trouble with it though. The first couple of batches were doubles. I had put in twice the ingredients I needed and the loaves were very dense and very heavy. I talked to Molly and she told me to cut everything in half. I did and the bread started turning out great. So I added some rosemary and then changed the oil ingredient to bacon fat; that really made it taste good. Yeast is not plentiful here in Mexico, but I found some in a one-pound package. Before I could open it, I went back to the States and bought a fistful of yeast packets. I must’ve gotten some powerful yeast though because the bread started blowing up and then imploding on itself. It was still tasty, just terribly deformed. I’m working on changing the yeast-sugar ratio.

December 19 - 31, 2008
Ellensburg, WA - Flew into a very cold and snow-covered Seattle. I caught the airport shuttle to Ellensburg and Julie picked me up at the bus stop at 0300. The next day the airport and the mountain passes were closed. While in Ellensburg we made a trip to Seattle for boat stuff, to see Chuck and Shirley (I had met Chuck while when still working and we formed a lasting friendship) and Dik and Kathy (next door neighbors of ours in Federal Way). We even bought a truck in Seattle, but I had barely driven it about a block off the lot and it was low on gas, had no oil in the engine, and the front brake caliper fell off. Still, I thought it was an OK truck to buy. It was a big red F-150 Lariat with four-wheel drive and gray leather interior. Chuck and Julie thought the problems were an omen and I should cancel the purchase. To my regret I did, but what goes around, comes around, as you’ll see. We attended a Christmas party with Julie’s co-workers, but we had a quiet Christmas and New Years, just the two of us. For Julie’s birthday, we went up past Cle Elum and had lunch at a lodge and then went into Roslyn and petted the Elk. There is a fellow just outside of town with a couple acres of land and he feeds the Elk for the winter.

January 1 - 26, 2009
Ellensburg, WA - Packed the car for the trip south. The trunk of the car and the back seat were bursting at the seams we had so much gear. We left Ellensburg on icy roads, snow and sub-zero temperatures. Little did we know, but that would be with us until we exited Colorado at the four corners.
On our journey south we drove through Oregon, stayed the night in Idaho, and the following night in Wyoming where we saw many spectacular accidents - semis jackknifed in the road and cars flipped over on their tops. We arrived in Steamboat Springs, Colorado to do a couple of days of skiing. Our original plan was to take a driving vacation, visit family and friends and ski a little. Julie’s broken ankle allowed her to do only two of the three activities. She was bummed out. While in Steamboat, I skied and Julie rode the Gondola to the mountaintop to have lunch with me. The second evening we took a sleigh ride out to Saddleback Ranch where they prepared a dinner for us and then drove us back to our hotels. It was snowing and the sleigh ride was cold at minus-20 below-zero, but the hands provided us heavy horse blankets to put on our laps. It was quiet with only the sound of the sleigh gliding through the snow and the occasional sigh by the horses as they plodded along. Julie got to rope her first cow. It was the metal kind that the drovers put in the middle of the Ranch house for the dudes to lasso. She got it on her second try.
We left early the next morning for Denver and Pueblo. Rabbit Ears pass and Berthoud pass were nearly whiteouts. In Denver we visited with Danny (my oldest friend from my childhood) and his family and then moved onto Pueblo where we stayed the night with Bob and Carole (my in-laws). Thursday we started for Paonia, Colorado to see Larry (my second oldest friend from my misspent youth) , when we ran into a rock. The trip had been going magnificently and the car was doing just great until we hit a rock 26 miles outside Gunnison. I saw the rock and Julie had pointed it out to me, but I thought the car would clear it. I took it right down the center (as I usually do) but the non-giving, bully rock jumped up and bit the transmission. I stopped to make a quick check underneath and, like a ruptured artery; red transmission fluid was pumping out. It was still below zero. We spun the car around and high-tailed it back for Gunnison. We made it, though I can’t explain how the five quarts of transmission fluid lasted us the half-hour drive. We found an honest mechanic and five days and $1300.00 later we were back on the road headed south. It should be noted here that had I been allowed to buy the truck (that big, red, F-150 Lariat with four-wheel drive and gray leather interior) I would’ve cleared the rock. There is an Irish prayer that goes;

“ May those that love us, love us.
And those that don't love us, May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts, May He turn their ankles
So we will know them by their limping.”

Chuck walks with a limp and Julie’s ankle is broken! See how that works? What goes around comes around. However, being the fine figure of a man I am, I cinched up my Speedos and bore my sorrow with nary a whimper. We had only planned to see Larry for a couple of hours, but he wound up coming down to Gunnison (on Friday) and chauffeuring us up to his house (in Paonia) where we spent the weekend. This turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Paonia is a small mountain town that depends mostly on agriculture and mining for its livelihood. In a town of this size, it is uncommon to see an international classical quintet (viola, cello, harp, piano and flute) perform, but we did. They performed in the Grange, but just the same, culture is culture. We were invited to an after-concert soirée, at one of the sponsor's homes, that was held even further back in the woods accessed by a one-lane, winding road … a path really … (high clearance and four-wheel drive required). In addition to chatting with the cellist, we met an aerospace engineer who is now operating one of the many small vineyards in town, and there were any number of small craft pilots, of which Larry is one. Larry, his girlfriend Ethel, and I went snowshoeing and cross-country skiing on Saturday just up the hill from their house. On Sunday we drove down to Telluride and put in a day of downhill skiing. Julie tagged along, but with her broken ankle she was still doing penance for deserting her husband in the fall. While around the area we saw multiple herds of elk and deer and one fox. Larry and Ethel were most gracious hosts and drove us back down to our car in Gunnison on Monday. We left early Tuesday morning.
By Tuesday evening we were in Tuba City, AZ having dinner with a mutual friend, Helga Baca. We had met Helga back in our working days when we were both on assignment in Bethel, AK. That evening we drove into Phoenix, AZ.
My mother had fallen the week before and had been admitted to the hospital for hip replacement surgery. We arrived just as she was discharged from the hospital. It would be natural to assume we helped her convalesce, but she was moving around pretty well by the time she was discharged. Oh sure, we ran a few errands and moved some things around the house, but she was pretty mobile and independent. My brother and uncle live in Phoenix and check on her frequently. Julie tried to make marmalade jam with oranges from my mother's trees, but it turned out more like marmalade soup … just more penance as far as I’m concerned. After four days with my mother we drove to San Diego to hook up with Tim and dump our winter gear in storage. We had lunch and a movie with Tim and then he had to get back to Camp Pendleton. Our next stop was Austin, TX, a first for both of us. We drove across the deserts of southern California and Arizona and then climbed into New Mexico. We spent the night in Las Cruces (elevation about 6000 ft) and we returned to the cold. The next morning we drove through El Paso, TX where El Paso, America and EL Paso, Mexico are divided by nothing more than a chain link fence. The rest of the day we drove for what seemed like forever through the Texas hill country. The road is pleasantly meandering and the hills are just high enough to block any panoramic view but they are tastefully vegetated with Chestnut trees, I'm told. The highway was littered with over 50 dead deer. Every couple of miles we’d see a deer carcass on one side of the road or the other. There are high fences on the side but the deer apparently can hop right over them. We also saw long-horned goats; strange looking creatures. We drove though Fredericksburg: a quaint little town settled by German immigrants in the mid 1800’s. It retains much of that culture today. We arrived in Austin at Molly’s late that evening.
While at Molly’s I put the car on Craigslist and sold it within 6 hours. We attended two yoga (hot yoga) classes with Molly, learning exercises we can do on the boat. We went to one of Keelyns soccer games (again it was cold!!), a movie, and out to lunch for Texas barbequed ribs on one occasion and boar and ostrich sandwich (at Cabella’s) on another occasion. We had dinner in and dinner out and we haunted the local thrift stores for big suitcases. We found four and packed them to the brim with all the gear we had purchased and stuffed into the car.

January 27, 2009
0630 - Arrive Austin International Airport and check into Continental Airlines with four suitcases for a total of 200 pounds, one computer bag, a backpack and a chick with a broken ankle. The airline was decent and only charged an extra $50.00 for excess baggage and nothing for the broken ankle
1000 - Arrive Mazatlan, Singlar Marina, the sailing vessel ITCHEN. It’s good to be home.